Selectmen Approve A Budget

By Steve Bigham

The Board of Selectmen Tuesday approved a $29.8 million budget for 2001-2002, which represents an 8.46 percent increase over the current budget. The selectmen trimmed the budget by more than a million dollars to get it to its current level.

As the selectmen point out, their operating budget is only up 3.8 percent, which puts them well within the Legislative Council’s guideline of a 7.5 percent increase.

“We’re certainly well within the council guidelines. There’s not a whole lot of fat,” noted First Selectman Herb Rosenthal.

The remainder of the selectmen’s budget increase is due to nearly $8.3 million in debt service, which is up $1.27 million. Much of that increase is due to costs related to the proposed purchase of Fairfield Hills and the construction of the 5/6 school. Last night, however, the selectmen added another $171,250 for the upgrade of a new high-band radio system which police and fire have deemed essential. The cost of the project is expected to be much higher, but total figures were still not in this week, much to the disappointment of the first selectman. However, the board opted to add some money to the budget in an effort to move forward on the project. The town will likely need to get approval for this million-dollar project at a town meeting some time later, Mr Rosenthal said.

“We’ve got a one-year license from the FCC for eight frequencies. You need to begin using the frequencies or you lose them,” Mr Rosenthal said. “At least this gives us a paper trail so that the FCC does not revoke them.”

Town officials say frequencies are hard to come by. To lose them would be a major problem, and would likely force the town to go to a much more expensive system.

For the most part, however, the selectmen have been busy finding ways to trim the budget without inflicting a lot of pain. By working closely with Public Works Director Fred Hurley, the board was able to make major cuts to the public works/highway/sewer budgets. All told, that budget was reduced by $500,000, including one final cut of $70,000 Tuesday night in the public building maintenance and landfill line items.

The selectmen credited Mr Hurley for his efforts in keeping costs down.

“He did a yeoman’s job in trying to find where a few bucks could be saved,” noted Selectman Bill Brimmer.

Others were not as enthused to see their requests cut. Judy Holmes of the ad hoc open space committee was on hand to express her board’s disappointment in the selectmen’s decision to cut $150,000 for open space purchases.

“When this administration came in, I thought you had a commitment to acquiring open space,” she said. “Any commitment you make to open space now will be reflected down the road. If open space isn’t a priority, what are we working for?”

A special appropriation could be requested sometime later, but Mrs Holmes said her group is looking at several parcels right now. By the time the money comes around, that open space will be long gone, she said.

Mr Rosenthal said the town could not legally create a fund that carries over from one year to the next, unless it is placed in a capital reserve fund. “We may be able to increase that account with open space in mind, I suppose,” Mr Rosenthal said.

Work on the budget was completed, however, without that being done.

Smaller cuts were made in numerous other areas of the budget, including $25,000 from the Town Hall Board of Managers, $30,000 from Parks & Recreation, $16,000 out of library, and $26,000 out of police.

Another $159,000 for the Children’s Adventure Center was pulled out of the budget because this money will ultimately be reimbursed by the state.

The budget now gets handed over to the Legislative Council at its regular meeting February 21. With it will come the Board of Education’s $42.8 million budget – up 8.5 percent. (See separate story.)